This invention is directed to combs used in hairdressing and in particular to combs used for tipping.
A common procedure in modern hairdressing is the selective colouring of some hair strands. Done as large bundles of strands this gives a distinct streaked effect in the hair, or done in bundles of only small numbers of strands it can give a gentle highlighting effect. The colouring may be achieved by application of dyes or bleaching agent. This procedure shall be referred to in this specification by the general term of tipping.
In a tipping procedure the hairdresser traditionally selects a generally flat array of hair strands, the array often being only a single hair thick, and, while supporting them and gently tensioning them with one hand, uses a comb in the other hand to comb them carefully until they are aligned parallel to each other in a flat array. Traditionally the comb used has a spiked tail, the point of which is then used in a weaving manner to thread through the flat array of hair strands in order to separate it into alternating bundles of hair strands passing either over or under the comb tail. The bundles are separated using a sheet material such as metal foil and the colouring agent applied to those bundles on only one side of the foil which is then folded or rolled. The technique is well known to those skilled in the art and need not be described in further detail here.
The usual aim when separating the hair with the comb is to produce bundles which are equally sized and evenly spaced and a great deal of skill and practice is required to achieve this to a high degree. The procedure is time consuming.
It is an objective of this invention to provide a means whereby the separation of the hair strands into the desired bundles may be achieved consistently in a uniform manner, can be achieved more quickly and can be satisfactorily performed by a person having a lower level of hairdressing skills than those required for the traditional procedure.
Accordingly, in one aspect the present invention provides a hairdressing comb comprising a main body portion with an array of teeth spaced from each other extending outwardly therefrom, each tooth comprising a root portion extending away from said main body portion and a further portion extending away from said root portion said further portion of the tooth being spaced from and generally parallel to said main body portion and being shaped so as to impede hair coming into contact with the further portion from sliding along the further portion into the spacing between the teeth.
The comb may have a handle portion free of teeth for holding the comb by hand while in use. The comb may have a generally planar structure with a central body portion having conventional straight comb teeth extending in an array in a first direction perpendicular to the body portion and in a direction opposite that of the other array of teeth.
Alternatively the teeth may extend from substantially the whole length of the comb""s main body portion, with the body portion adapted to be attached to the back of a hairdresser""s traditional tail comb. Such a body portion may be channel shaped in cross section with said channel sized to resiliently clip onto the frame of the traditional tail comb.
Preferably a third portion of each tooth extends from said further portion generally parallel to and spaced from said root portion.
Each tooth may be bifurcated with a first branch extending away from the main body portion and the second branch comprises said further portion extending generally parallel to the main body portion. The first branch may extend away from the bifurcation at about right angles to the main body portion. The second branch may be bifurcated with:
(a) a third branch extending from the bifurcation in a direction away from the main body portion at about right angles to the main body portion, and
(b) a fourth branch extending from the bifurcation in a direction towards the main body portion at about right angles to the main body portion.
Preferably each said further portion of a tooth extends in a direction parallel to the main body portion for about half the distance between adjacent teeth.
The first branch may extend firstly in a direction opposite to that of said second branch and then secondly in a direction away from the main body portion at about right angles to the main body portion. In this case, for each tooth the sum of the distances said first and second branches extend parallel to the main body portion is about half the distance between adjacent teeth.